r of introduction to Mr. G----, given me on my setting out,
by Madame his sister. I had formed the acquaintance of this gentleman
during a stay which he had made at Montreal in 1801; but as I was then
very young, he would probably have had some difficulty in recognising me
without his sister's letter. He introduced me to several of his friends,
and I passed in an agreeable manner the five weeks which elapsed between
my arrival in New York and the departure of the ship.

I shall not undertake to describe New York; I will only say, that the
elegance of the buildings, public and private, the cleanliness of the
streets, the shade of the poplars which border them, the public walks,
the markets always abundantly provided with all sorts of commodities,
the activity of its commerce, then in a flourishing condition, the vast
number of ships of all nations which crowded the quays; all, in a word,
conspired to make me feel the difference between this great maritime
city and my native town, of whose steeples I had never lost sight
before, and which was by no means at that time what it is now.

New York was not then, and indeed is not at this time a fortified town;
still there were several batteries and military works, the most
considerable of which were seen on the _Narrows_, or channel which forms
the principal mouth of the Hudson. The isles called _Governor's Island_,
and _Bedloe_ or _Gibbet Island_, were also well fortified. On the first,
situated to the west of the city and about a mile from it, there were
barracks sufficiently capacious for several thousand soldiers, and a
Moro, or castle, with three tiers of guns, all bomb-proof. These works
have been strengthened during the last war.

The market-places are eight in number; the most considerable is called
_Fly-Market_.

The _Park_, the _Battery_, and _Vauxhall Garden_, are the principal
promenades. There were, in 1810, thirty-two churches, two of which were
devoted to the catholic worship; and the population was estimated at
ninety thousand souls, of whom ten thousand were French. It is thought
that this population has since been augmented (1819) by some thirty
thousand souls.

During my sojourn at New York, I lodged in Brooklyn, on Long Island.
This island is separated from the city by a sound, or narrow arm of the
sea. There is here a pretty village, not far from which is a basin,
where some gun-boats were hauled up, and a few war vessels were on the
stocks. Some barra